Independence Day
by burgerbecky
Summary: R/R please!!! On July 2nd, They Arrive. On July 3rd, They Attack. July 4th is Independence Day. Chapter #5 is up
1. They Travel

Ranma 1/2 Independence Day: Chapter 1 They travel  
  
Set during the last third of Ranma 1/2 just before Ranma's mom finds out about the truth of his curse. The events in America transpire independently from Japan and there will be no Sailor Scouts. The magical girls don't exist in this story.  
  
Based on the film "Independence Day" By Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich and Ranma 1/2 by Rumiko Takahashi  
By Bill Heineman  
  
I don't own these characters. Please don't sue me, kill me or invade my planet. It's mine! I found it first!  
  
  
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July 1st of this year. Morning.  
  
  
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The journey was about to end for the billions of beings in the hive. The blue planet they were going to was only two million kilometers away from their mothership. The pilots began the sequence for settling the ship into a simple orbit around the big blue marble, the planet they would soon call home.  
  
The collective was happy to finally once again be able to walk under a blue sky and feel the soft air flow over their bodies. They remembered the last time they stood on the beach of an ocean watching the waves crash at their feet. The mass remembered the rustling of the wind through the Nacta trees blowing the blue flower petals across the blue sand of their last world.  
  
Alas, their world finally gave out and slowly died around them. The travelers had consumed all the precious oxygen and proteins from the ecosystem until the planet could no longer sustain their way of life. It was not an unexpected event. The travelers were accustomed to this tragedy since they had already moved from world to world in the hundreds of thousands of years of their existence.  
  
Their scouts had scoured the nearby star systems for a suitable new world in which to live on and were successful. The search had yielded a star system that was less than one hundred light years away and was teeming with life. It was one of the best worlds they had encountered in over three hundred thousand years. The system had nine planets and orbited a single small yellow star. The third planet from the sun had a single moon and plenty of oxygen and proteins to last them for thousands of years. It was ripe for the taking.  
  
They sent several scout vessels and studied the indigenous life for one hundred years. They were shocked at the violence the intelligent species that was native to this world was capable of. The hive hoped that the apes of this world would do them a favor and wipe themselves out, but it was to no avail. The 'humans' as they call themselves always seemed to wise up at the last minute every time they were to unleash Armageddon onto their own kind.  
  
They took captives and studied their frail bodies. They studied the human languages and cultures by intercepting their radio and TV transmissions. They studied and found the weaknesses in the human defenses. The travelers created the weapons and countermeasures needed to nullify any threat the humans could possibly pose to the hive.  
  
Their current world died. The ecosystem went past the point of no return and the temperature rose as the hothouse gasses clouded the atmosphere of what was once a beautiful and colorful world. Now the world was barren and desolate with only patches of moss and micro-biotic life remaining. In time, even this life would be extinguished, as the greenhouse effect would raise the surface temperature to rival that of the planet Venus. The world was dead.  
  
The travelers had gathered all of the population and boarded the mothership preparing for the six-month journey to take them to their new home. They bid farewell to the world that had given them life for several thousand years. They left orbit and engaged their faster than light drive to a new world.  
  
It was a new home.  
  
It was a beautiful world, full of life, food, warmth and hope.  
  
It was a new beginning.  
  
A shining blue planet the current inhabitants called "Earth".  
  
A planet that needed fumigation before it would be ready for its new tenants. It was a process that according to plan would only take a few days to accomplish.  
  
The travelers could wait for the clean up crew to dispose of the vermin before they took up residence. After all, what could these evolved apes do against a civilization that had existed for almost a million years?  
  
What hope do the humans have at all to a race that traveled the stars? Who could possibly stand up to them?  
  
  
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"RANMA!" Akane screamed as she went looking for her missing fiance. "Get in here now!" She held her mallet over her shoulder in preparation to send him to dreamland once she found him.  
  
Ranma was lying on the roof of the dojo looking at the early morning sky. He had totally forgotten that he had promised Akane to spar with her before he did his morning sparring session with his father. Ranma loved to lie on the roof just before sunrise and watch the sun lift above the clouds. It was one of the only few times in his current existence that he could actually get away from the chaos that encompassed his life right now.  
  
Ranma turned his gaze away from the horizon and peeked over the lip of the roof. He waved down at the raven haired girl. "Yo Akane! Up here!"  
  
Akane glanced upward and banged her head on the head of the mallet. "Ouch!" She rubbed her hair and mumbled something about moronic martial artists. She looked upward again avoiding the mallet this time. "Ranma! You're supposed to be in the dojo remember?"  
  
Ranma's brain fired the neurons that had somehow not activated this morning and flooded his mind with what he had forgotten. He turned to the sunrise and turned back the very irate girl below. "I'll be down in a minute!"  
  
"A minute? What are you doing up there that's so important huh?" Akane stowed her mallet and climbed the ladder that rested on the side of the house. The ladder was a permanent fixture since it was the only way for Kasumi and Nabiki to visit their somewhat reclusive relatives.  
  
Akane got to the top of the ladder and paused at the sight before her. Ranma was sitting cross-legged facing away from her as the sun began to rise before him. The red and orange bands expanded and filled the sky with bright color. Ranma sighed. He felt at peace with the world. Peace in a world that offered little peace to him during the rest of his waking hours.  
  
Akane forgot for a moment why she was angry with him. She got on the roof and sat a few meters away and watched the sunrise with him. A minute passed and the sun was in full view before the couple. Ranma slowly got up and turned to his fiance. "Ready to spar Akane?"  
  
"How often do you come here Ranma?" Akane asked without turning from the horizon. She was lost in the beauty in front of her.  
  
"Not often enough I'm afraid. C'mon, we don't have too much time before Kasumi makes breakfast." He walked to the edge of the roof and jumped off and walked to the entrance of the dojo.  
  
Akane sat for a moment and then got up to climb down the ladder. She stopped at the lip and saw how far it was to the ground. "Hmm... Doesn't look it's that hard to roof hop." She gritted her teeth and jumped down.  
  
SPLAT! She hit the ground hard and twisted her ankle. "OW!" She fell into a crumpled heap.  
  
"Akane!" Ranma ran from the dojo doorway and rushed to her side. "Stupid! Why did you do that for?" He examined her leg and saw it wasn't broken.  
  
"Maybe if you actually spent time teaching me to fight instead of dodging me, I'd know how to roof hop like all of your other fiances!" Akane sat up and rubbed her ankle.  
  
Ranma sat back. "You stupid tomboy! You shouldn't do things you're not trained to do!" Kasumi came out of the back of the house attracted by the sound of Akane's scream.  
  
"Listen you pervert! I've been ready to roof hop before you showed up here and if you were a halfway decent teacher, I'd be as good as you!"  
  
That statement pushed just the right button in Ranma's psyche. "Oh yeah! I've been training you for months now and you simply suck Akane!"  
  
"I suck? Why you insensitive jerk!" WHAM! The mallet of chi found its mark and Ranma went flying into the back wall.  
  
Kasumi rubbed Akane's foot. "Now Akane, stop being violent with Ranma. He is only doing what he thinks is best."  
  
"What's best? That jerk has no clue on how to be a teacher!" Akane started crying. "He never takes me seriously!"  
  
"Now now, he does, but he does it in his own way." Kasumi moved Akane's ankle and saw that the injury was very minor. Kasumi looked up to the roof and judged the distance that Akane had fallen. "Akane, you seem to be getting the hang of falling from the roof. You didn't injure yourself much at all."  
  
Akane cheered up a little. "I didn't?" She felt her ankle and found that her sister was right. She had only bumped it and suffered no real injury. Kasumi stood up and helped her sister to her feet. "Wow!" Akane took a step on her bum foot. "It hurts just a little but I can walk on it."  
  
Kasumi beamed. "See, it looks like you're improving. Ranma's training with you is paying off."  
  
Akane grew cold at the mention of Ranma's name. "I'd improve faster if that idiot would only fight back."  
  
"Don't worry Akane, just give it time." Kasumi went back into the house to finish making breakfast.  
  
"Yes, give it time she says." Akane looked at the flatted outline of her betrothed still imprinted on the wall. "How much time will it take? How much time do we have?" She followed her sister to the kitchen. She wasn't in the mood to train anymore.  
  
  
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Hiroshi was playing with his HAM radio set. He had taken up the hobby several months ago since Daisuke spent more time chasing girls than hanging out with his buddy. Hiroshi needed something to do in the mornings and talking to people halfway across the world sounded like fun and helped improve his English skills.  
  
He constantly impressed Miss Hinako with his English vocabulary. He never bothered to tell her it was because he was pirating HBO and Showtime from American satellites with help from his American friends he met over the airwaves. He smiled as he installed his newest addition to his little pirate satellite signal decoder. The Playboy channel was only a few minutes away.  
  
He stopped his work and slid over to his bedroom door and shut it. He checked the lock and secured his room from prying eyes, namely his parents. He went back to his workbench and turned on the decoder. He flicked on the TV and got snow. He changed channels several times and got more static and interference. "Drat!"  
  
He pulled up the instructions again and compared the settings to what the book said to do. He slapped himself on the forehead as he turned off the decoder and inserted the missing CPU chip. He turned it back on and saw an ESPN broadcast on his TV. "Oh boy! Ladies, here I come."  
  
Hiroshi jumped on his bed and hit his remote control. He flicked the channels until he reached the object of his desire. The Playboy channel was showing a commercial for a men's cologne. He rolled his eyes and waited patiently for something actually interesting to come on the screen. The screen flickered and had vertical bands of distortion that threatened to impair his enjoyment of the flesh he anxiously awaited to see. He banged on the decoder box and the screen went blank.  
  
"Great! That's just great!" He pulled out the probes of his oscilloscope and began to work on the decoder box once again. He would not be denied the Playboy channel.  
  
  
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"Hey you lazy boy! Time for training!" Genma peeled his son off the wall and threw him over to the koi pond. Ranma squirmed back into a human shape and twisted himself to avoid the cold water.  
  
"Try again pops!" He lunged at his father who leapt over him and kicked Ranma in the back sending him flying.  
  
"Your defenses are slipping. Have you learned nothing boy!" Genma felt good at getting a blow in so early. He pressed his advantage and bounced off a rock to follow up with another blow to the back of his son.  
  
Ranma grinned as he heard his father fall into his trap. At the last possible moment, Ranma ducked to the side and punched his flying father and sent him straight into the side of the dojo. Genma landed with his hands and feet on the wall and bounced effortlessly off. "Try again boy!"  
  
"You're the one who's slipping pops!" Ranma feigned an attack and tried to kick his father from below. Genma blocked and threw a punch at Ranma's chest. The two took the fight to the rooftop and exchanged numerous blows that were all deflected or dodged.   
  
The combat lasted for over ten minutes with neither opponent giving any ground. Ranma landed next to the koi pond and focused his attention to a shiny object on the ground for a split second.  
  
Genma lunged for the one hundred yen coin and just before he could snatch it, Ranma kicked his dad into the koi pond. "Fooled you!" Ranma picked up the coin he had intentionally left on the ground as bait. "As you once said pop, one bright shiny object and you lose your concentration." He clenched the coin in his raised fist in triumph.  
  
SPLASH!  
  
A drenched Ranko stood where Ranma once was. She spun to see who would dare interfere in her moment of glory.  
  
Nabiki held an empty bucket and smirked. "You can thank me later." She turned and went into the house.  
  
"What do you mean by that you jerk?" Ranko grabbed one of the many buckets that conveniently lay about the backyard and filled it with water from the pond. She stormed into the house dripping water behind her. "Nabiki! Get back here so I can give you my proper thanks." She marched down the hall and turned the corner right into her mother.  
  
Nodoka was startled at the angry expression on Ranko's face. Ranko quickly hid the bucket behind her back and gave a girlish smile. "Why Auntie Saotome! It's so nice to see you!"  
  
"Hello Ranko." Nodoka gently bowed toward her favorite member of the Tendo family. She noticed that Ranko was soaking wet. "Were you bathing in the pond outside again? You shouldn't do that, it's very unladylike."  
  
Ranko took a step back and slid her bucket around the corner of the hall. She kept up her smile and cute face for her mother. "I like to bathe outside Auntie!"  
  
"Ranko, you need to learn how to act like a lady. Come with me." She gently took Ranko's hand and led her up the stairs. Outside, a panda got out of the pond and tip toed to the back gate in anticipation for a fast escape.  
  
Ranko started to get worried as she noticed that her mother was leading her to the bathroom. She started to sweat and made mental notes of the fastest way to leave the house. She thought, "If I touch hot water, I'm a dead man."  
  
Nodoka knocked on the bathroom door. "Is anyone in there?"  
  
Nabiki opened the door. She finished brushing her teeth and rinsed out her mouth. "Why hello Mrs. Saotome. It's so nice to see you again."  
  
Ranma's mom bowed and asked, "I'm going to give Ranko a bath. Please excuse us." She led her daughter to the door the led to the furo.  
  
Nabiki wanted to laugh as she saw Ranko being dragged to her doom. She whispered to Ranko. "I'm adding this to your tab." She went back to the sink she was at and brushed her hair.  
  
Ranko made a silent prayer and hoped that her mother would forgive her and not ask her to remove her internal organs. Nodoka stopped and let go of Ranko's hand. "We'll have to do with cold water for now Ranko."  
  
Ranko spun around and saw that a tape was draped across the furo marked 'Broken, don't use' across it. Ranko knew this was going to inflate her debt to the bank of Nabiki but at least she didn't need to face the tanto today.  
  
"Now young lady, please undress out of those filthy clothes and get you cleaned up."  
  
"Yes Auntie Saotome." Ranko sighed as she did what she was told.  
  
  
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Akane and Nabiki had to use super human effort to keep from laughing their heads off. Ranko was sitting at the breakfast table in a Furinkan High School Girl's uniform and had a white bow in her pretty ponytail. She had a light application of makeup and just the hint of lipstick. She glared at the Tendo sisters every time they held back a laugh.  
  
Nodoka asked Akane. "Is there something the matter dear? You seem to have difficulty breathing."  
  
Akane choked back a laugh as she shot a glance at her 'cousin'. "No Auntie, I'm perfectly, he he, fine. He he."  
  
"You don't sound fine to me. Are you such you're not choking?"  
  
Akane stifled her laughter and sat up straight. "I'm perfectly fine Mrs. Saotome." She looked away from Ranko to remove her temptation to laugh out loud.  
  
Nodoka shook her head. "Now Ranko, I expect you to be a perfect lady at school today."  
  
Ranko sat sulking. "Yes Mrs. Saotome." She took her rice bowl and ate at high speed.  
  
"RANKO! That's not how a lady eats!" Her mother slapped Ranko on the thigh as punishment.  
  
Nabiki couldn't control herself. "You called her a lady! Ha ha ha!"  
  
Ranko's mother was not amused at Nabiki's behavior. "What's so funny Nabiki? Ranko obviously hasn't been brought up properly and I'll see to it that she becomes a beautiful wife." Mrs. Saotome smiled at her favorite Tendo.  
  
Akane spat out her tea and gagged.  
  
Ranko whimpered. "Beautiful wife?"  
  
Nabiki couldn't take it anymore. "I'm late for school!" She wasn't late but she darted out of the house before she could blow Ranko's cover. The moment she was out of earshot, she keeled over in hysterical laughter.  
  
"I've got to go to school too." Akane got up and ran upstairs to get her things.  
  
Ranko whimpered again. "Beautiful wife?"  
  
Nodoka adjusted Ranko's ponytail and gazed at the red haired beauty in front of her. "I think it's time for you to go join your cousins Ranko."  
  
Ranko took one last bite from her rice bowl and planned in her mind how she was going to sneak back into the house to get her male clothes, wipe off the makeup, change back and dart off to school without her mother finding out. She felt oppressing waves of doom as her plans in her mind kept meeting dismal failure. She contemplated places to hide to avoid going to school altogether.  
  
Akane came down the stairs and waited for Ranko at the front door. "C'mon Ranko, I've got everything you need here!" She patted a large shopping bag that she never carries with her to school.  
  
Ranko took the hint and joined Akane out the door. Nodoka watched the two girls run quickly down the path and out the front gate to Furinkan. Kasumi approached Nodoka and heard her say, "Those girls seem to be inseparable."  
  
"Yes Auntie, they are. They fight a lot but they do care for each other."  
  
"Now Kasumi, can you tell me when Ranma and Genma will be home?"  
  
Kasumi sighed.  
  
  
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Akane walked alongside Ranko with a smug look on her face. "You know Ranma. I should let you go to school like that. It would serve you right."  
  
Ranko shot a hateful glare at the dress she was wearing. It was one of Akane's dresses that she had grown out of and it didn't quite fit right on Ranko either. "I'm NOT going to school as a girl and I'm certainly not going in a DRESS!"  
  
"Well then, you'd better apologize to me!" Akane pulled out Ranma's red shirt from the shopping bag just enough to show she had it but not enough to actually remove it from its safe place.  
  
"Gimme that!" Ranko lunged forward to grab the object of her salvation.   
  
"Uh uh! Not until you say you're sorry!" Akane hid the bag behind her back.  
  
"Sorry for what you stupid jerk! Give me that!" Ranko darted left and right trying to grab the clothes.  
  
"What did you say?" Akane raised her battle aura. "Here I am trying to help you and all you can do is insult me! Commit seppuku for all I care!" She spun around and threw the bag over the fence toward the canal.  
  
"AHHH!" Ranko ran toward the fence into the waiting arms of Tatewaki Kuno.  
  
"Ah my pig tailed god..." Ranko kicked the Casanova over the canal. He flew into the shopping bag and both landed on the far side in a heap.  
  
"Well, finally that pervert was good for something." Ranko jumped on the fence and jumped across the canal where her prize lay.  
  
Akane stuck her nose into the air. "Fine! See if I help you anymore you jerk!" She stormed off to school.  
  
Ranko approached Kuno who was lying in a shallow crater. The bag was underneath him. Ranko gently lifted Kuno and reached under him to get the clothes. She held the bag tight and gave it a pull. Kuno lifted an arm and grabbed Ranko's hand and held it to his face as if to kiss it. "Ah my lovely vision in red, I see that you have followed me here to spend time with me. I am but touched." Kuno cleared his throat in preparation to recite some romantic poetry to set the mood.  
  
"Touch this you pervert!" Ranko pulled her hand away from Kuno's approaching lips and brought her other fist down on his head. She snatched the bag and kicked him into the canal with a splash marking his departure.  
  
"Man, will Tatewaki ever amount to anything?" Ranko ran off to find a place to change. She would deal with the hot water when she arrives at school.  
  
  
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Author's Notes: Please review my story. It makes me feel oh so happy and prevents me from targeting a death beam on your house.  
  
  
P.S. Arno Nym, you dared me to do this. This is all YOUR fault! Prepare to DIE!  
  
Bill Heineman  
January 5th, 2003  
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burger@contrabandent.com  
http://www.contrabandent.com/burgerbill  
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	2. They Signal

Ranma 1/2 Independence Day: Chapter 2 They signal  
Set during the middle of Ranma 1/2 before Ranma's mom finds out about the truth of his curse.  
  
Based on the film "Independence Day" By Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich and Ranma 1/2 by Rumiko Takahashi  
By Bill Heineman  
  
I don't own these characters. Please don't sue me, kill me or make me eat live worms.  
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July 1st, Late morning.  
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Taki Fujiyama was examining the latest set of plates of the planet Jupiter. He was looking for any new moons to add to the growing list of discoveries that astronomers worldwide were making recently on the largest planet of the solar system. He checked the first plate and found nothing unusual. He checked the second plate, the third plate and then broke for lunch.  
  
He sat in his chair downing his sandwich contemplating his existence. He had been working at the Tokyo Bay Observatory for several years and had only discovered a single asteroid and confirmed the sighting of a comet. He hoped that someday he would find something in the heavens that he could name after his cat that wouldn't be forgotten over the annuals of time.  
  
"Four years of college so I can sit looking at the stars." He said to himself. He smiled since he wouldn't have it any other way. "I like it!" He rolled his chair back to the lit table with the photographic plates.  
  
He picked up his magnifying glass and held it onto plate number four to examine Jupiter. He silently wished the funding board would approve of his request to get digital recording equipment so he wouldn't need to spend his scant funds on film and developing solutions. He could increase his output, save money and maybe even hurry up and discover something.  
  
Taki squinted at the circle that was Jupiter. The normally perfect sphere had a chunk taken out of it and looked like a crescent moon. He pulled up plate number three and saw that Jupiter had a tiny fragment missing. It was something that he missed when he looked at it the first time.  
  
He grew concerned and went to plate number five. Jupiter was partially eclipsed by some large object. He made some calculations on where the object would be now and cursed that it was only visible at this moment on the far side of the earth. He pulled out the sixth and final plate and noticed the object was already past Jupiter with only a tiny fragment obscuring the distant world.  
  
He double-checked his calculations based on the observations. The object wasn't moving laterally. It was Jupiter that moved aside but the object appeared stationary. There were only two conclusions that could be made. The object was either moving directly away from Earth or it was moving directly toward it. Earth didn't launch anything that could be this object so the only remaining option was something unthinkable. A large bead of sweat crept down the back of his head as he grabbed his telephone. He needed confirmation of his findings.  
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Ranma stormed into his classroom dressed in his traditional Chinese shirt and black pants. He had a look of anger on his face and growled at Akane as he sat down. Akane snickered back in response. Ranma had to sneak into the men's locker room to obtain a jock strap since Akane had conveniently forgotten to pack a pair of boxer shorts in the grocery bag of clothes. Ranma was never going to be caught wearing women's underwear in male form by choice.  
  
A dark cloud hovered over Ranma as he simmered in anger. Anger directed at his close call at coming to school as a girl. Anger at his father to pretend to be someone he's not. He felt even more anger for not being able to be who he truly was in front of his mother.  
  
Hiroshi walked up to Ranma to cheer him up. "Hey there! What's up?"  
  
Ranma huffed. "The usual stuff."  
  
Daisuke nudged Ranma to get him to lighten up. "What? Got another fiance you lady killer?"  
  
"As if I need another one, I've already got enough problems with the ones I've got."  
  
"Well Ranma, I've got something that might cheer you up. Check this out." Hiroshi pulled out of his book bag a schematic diagram of a complicated electrical circuit.  
  
"What's this? Your art project?"  
  
Hiroshi's eyes glazed over. "Twenty fours of the Playboy channel right at your fingertips."  
  
Ranma kept his head pointed at the diagram then raised just his eyes to look at Hiroshi's spaced out features. "The Playboy channel? What's that?"  
  
Daisuke's slapped his own head in shock. "You don't know what the Playboy channel is? Have you been living under a rock?"  
  
"No. I've been living on the road for ten years until I got tied down with that uncute tomboy sitting over there. So what's this channel all about?"  
  
The two perverts whispered together in a ritual of male bonding. "Girls! Lot's of girls and little clothes."  
  
"Why would I care about girls? They're nothin' but trouble!"  
  
Hiroshi gave a smirk. "Don't tell me that you're not interested in girls Ranma. Just think about it, girls on TV showing you everything."  
  
Daisuke piped in. "Hiroshi, why would he care? If he wants a girl he can just look in the mirror. Besides your box doesn't work anyways."  
  
"It does too!"  
  
"Does not!"  
  
"Does too! I just need to get the bugs worked out of it that's all."  
  
Ranma separated his friends from their pointless argument. "Hey! Hey! Hey! You mean to tell me you actually got this piece of paper to work?"  
  
Hiroshi snatched the paper from Ranma's desk and neatly folded it away. "I put it together last night and got it working this morning."  
  
Diasuke wanted to rub it in. "Working? Yeah right. The picture had all that distortion and the sound didn't work."  
  
"There was a carrier wave imbedded in the H-Blank signal. I just have to filter it out. It's probably some new anti-piracy scheme."  
  
Ranma was confused. "Whoa! H-Blank? Speak Japanese will ya?"  
  
"H-Blank, Horizonal Blank, did you sleep in electronics class again?"  
  
The tardy chime rang and the other students sat down at their desks. Ukyou came in and waved at Ranma then sat in her seat. Hiroshi slipped his schematic into his book bag. "I'll fix it tonight. Stop by my place if you want to check out some real cute girls."  
  
Ukyou's eyes twitched. She quietly thought. "If he wanted to see a cute girl, all he has to do is turn around."  
  
Akane snubbed Ranma. "See if I care."  
  
Miss Hinako entered the class and sat on a stool. "Now is everyone ready to learn?"  
  
The class answered. "Yes teacher."  
  
"Good. Now here's a book of my favorite ponies. Look at the nice little pink one."  
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The phone rang in a tiny observatory in the middle of a Kansas field. Mark Stratton was a retired machinist who was spending the rest of his days looking at the stars. The building that housed his telescope looked like it should fall apart if the wind achieved over ten kilometers per hour, but the look was intentional to ward off thieves. Inside, was a set of some of the most advanced amateur astronomy equipment money can buy without government intervention. It was one of the perks of winning the New York state lottery five years ago.  
  
"Hello. Mark here." Mr. Stratton was in his early thirties, dressed casually and enjoyed the good life. He had already discovered dozens of comets, asteroids and even a tiny new moon of Saturn. He was known the world over in the field of astronomy. "Yeah." He pulled out his keyboard while he placed his feet on his desk. "Gimme the coordinates." He typed in the settings to redirect his telescope to the current location of Jupiter. "Doomsday asteroid? Yeah right, you've been watching too many movies. Gimme a minute."  
  
Mark set the computer to take a high-resolution digital picture of the night sky. In moments, the image was on his twenty-two inch flat panel display. "Ok. Now what am I looking for? Uh huh." He blew up a section of the image. He magnified it again. "I think I have something but it's reflective properties suck. Might be an asteroid." He took another picture but with the infrared and the ultraviolet spectrums being emphasized.  
  
"Woah!" A large dot appeared near Jupiter. "Ok. Looks like we got a live one. Let's see where you're going." He blew up the image to get a good look at the object. It was a perfect circle, too perfect in his mind. He programmed the telescope to take a picture of just the object itself and determine its location.  
  
He worked for twenty minutes solid. Taki didn't care if the phone call was costing him a fortune. Every passing moment made him more excited about the find. The asteroid was over five hundred kilometers across and was going to pass Earth very closely. Taki wasn't prepared for the news he was going to get.  
  
Mark checked his findings refusing to believe they were correct. "Uh... Taki, we've got big trouble here."  
  
Taki untied his hand from the phone cord that he tangled himself with as he played with it while waiting for confirmation of his find. "What? Don't tell me it's going to hit the Earth."  
  
Mark let out his breath when he accepted the truth. "I've clocked our friend here. It's slowing down."  
  
"Say what?"  
  
"I'm forwarding this to NASA as soon as I hang up. This thing is traveling far faster than anything I've ever seen and it's slowing down at an incredible rate. At this rate of speed it will be within Lunar orbit in less than twenty-four hours.  
  
"Twenty four hours? From Jupiter's orbit?"  
  
"Yep. If I were you, I'd think of a name for this thing. Something biblical would be nice. Gotta go, I've got people to call and emails to make." Mark hung up the phone as Taki asked more questions. Mark checked his Rolodex and pulled out a card. He dialed the number on it. "Hello, NASA? This is Mark Stratton. Get me Dr. Rothman. Yeah, tell him it's a possible extinction level event. No, I'm not kidding and this isn't candid camera. Get him on the phone NOW!"  
========================================  
Shampoo was resting at the Cat Cafe after her morning workout with her great grandmother. She dreamed of Ranma as she watched her favorite Japanese soap opera on her tiny TV in her bedroom.  
  
"Oh Fuko. Why didn't you come back when I bzzzz...."  
  
Shampoo fell out of her dream state then flung a bonbori at the TV. "Stupid Japanese TV. Shampoo should buy one from Taiwan." She got up and wiggled the antenna to get a better picture. The picture stabilized and became clear as she held the coat hangar but fizzed out when she released it. "Mousse!"  
  
Mousse entered the sacred domain of his beloved. "Yes Shampoo? What can I do for you?"  
  
"Hold TV wire."   
  
"You mean like this?" Mousse touched the coat hangar that doubled as an antenna and the picture became crystal clear.  
  
"Good Mousse. Mousse stay while Shampoo watch." Shampoo curled up to watch the conclusion of the episode imagining the girl in the picture was her with the hero being Ranma.  
  
An hour later, Mousse gladly changed into his duck form to rest his wings in his pen. He was happy to be of service to his beloved Shampoo.  
========================================  
Nabiki sat during lunchtime reading Forbes Japan and listening through headphones to the financial report from the evening news in the United States on a pocket radio. Tatewaki Kuno approached with an expectant look on his face. "Miss Tendo, I have come to ask a favor of you."  
  
Nabiki gave a sultry purr. "Oh Kuno baby, favors are my specialty. What ever do you desired?"  
  
"I desire the location of the pig tailed one. I happened upon her this morning and she was wearing a Furinkan High School uniform."  
  
Nabiki chuckled then held her laughter.  
  
"I see no humor in this Nabiki."  
  
"Sorry, I got something in my throat, please continue."  
  
Kuno straightened himself. "As I was saying, the pig tailed one must be a student here. I would like to know where she is being educated since I had not seen her on the school grounds today."  
  
"That's a little difficult. You see, she's a special case and... Well... They make exceptions for people like her."  
  
"The exception? What is it?"  
  
Nabiki knew she had him hooked. She held out her open palm in anticipation for her reward for a job well done. "Three thousand yen please."  
  
Kuno slipped her three one thousand yen notes. She quickly made the money vanish in a way that most professional magicians would have envied. "She's in Ranma's class. Wherever Ranma goes, she goes."  
  
"Ranma? Ranma Saotome? The enslaver of women." He produced a bouquet of flowers from nowhere. "Now I will meet with Akane and the pig tailed one." He ran off. "I will allow them to date with me."  
  
Nabiki shook her head smiling at the easy three thousand yen she got. "Should have asked for five thousand." She put her headphones back on and got a weird annoying carrier tone. She could still hear the broadcast, but the noise made listening painful. She adjusted the tuning knob to get a better signal but it was to no avail. "Oh well, it was boring anyways."  
========================================  
The hive was getting restless. The countdown had begun and the stasis chambers were being deactivated. Countless millions of the travelers were awakened to begin preparation to disembark the mother ship to take residence on their new home.  
  
The pilots shut down the hyper drive, enabled the inertial dampers and activated the energy to motion drive to gradually slow down the massive craft. The lead pilot fed his thoughts into his console to command it to display the projected course though the Terran solar system. He double checked for space debris and waved in approval. The course plot appeared on consoles all over the ship. Two dots flashed to show the location of their craft and their new home with the distance between them rapidly getting narrower. A series of vertical bar patterns appeared on the side of the image to denote the countdown stages for Earth orbit and the other phases of the great plan.  
  
The pilot requested the computer to pull up images of their destination. Realistic photos channeled directly into his mind showed a scene of a massive redwood forest. He imagined that he was standing among the trees breathing in the fresh clean air. The smell of the crisp air was a sensation that was for most of the ship's occupants, only a distant memory. He rejoiced that the memory would be transferred into reality in only one hundred hours.  
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Author's Notes: Please review my story. It makes me feel oh so happy and prevents me from covering your home in toilet paper.  
  
Bill Heineman  
February 18th, 2003  
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burger@contrabandent.com  
  
======================================== 


	3. They Orbit

Ranma 1/2 Independence Day: Chapter 3 They orbit  
Set during the middle of Ranma 1/2 before Ranma's mom finds out about the truth of his curse.  
  
Based on the film "Independence Day" By Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich and Ranma 1/2 by Rumiko Takahashi  
By Bill Heineman  
  
I don't own these characters. Please don't sue me, kill me or take me out to the ball game.  
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July 1st, Afternoon.  
========================================  
Ranma was bored out of his mind listening to Miss Hinako talk about why pink ponies were prettier than red ones. He gently snored at his desk dreaming about wild pink horses with fluffy wings when he felt the tap of a ruler on his cheek.  
  
The small miffed teacher who doubled as a chi-vampire held a fifty yen coin at Ranma. "I see that you need a lesson in respect for your elders Mr. Saotome. Happo fifty-yen satsu!" She sucked his ki just enough to allow her to grow into her adult form but not enough to reduce the pig tailed boy to a shriveled husk. "Now Mr. Saotome, you will stay awake in class if you know what's good for you."  
  
Ranma spoke in a soft slow voice. "I was only resting..." He resisted falling asleep again from the effects of the ki drain to pretend he was paying attention.  
  
"Well then, if you were resting, please tell me how you spell 'Princess'? After all, Princess ponies were what I was talking about."   
  
Ranma vaguely remembered his English alphabet. "Uh... P.R.I.N.S.E.S.?"  
  
Hinako pointed her finger toward the open doorway. "Wrong! Go outside into the hall and don't forget to fill your buckets!"  
  
Several students snickered as the pig-tailed martial artist went out to the entryway, grabbed two empty buckets and went down the hall to the restroom to fill them with water. He shook his head to force himself awake as he slid the first bucket into the sink. He stared at his reflection in the mirror while the bucket got heavier. "How can this day get any worse?"  
  
"Ranma Saotome, prepare to die!"  
  
Ranma put the bucket down and faced his rival. "Why do I bother asking?"  
  
An umbrella smashed into the mirror after Ranma ducked under the blow. Ryoga kicked the empty space that Ranma once occupied and spun around to find his enemy. "For your disrespect of Akane, you will pay!" He lunged with all his might and touched the floor. "Bakusai Tenketsu!" The room was showered in an explosion of linoleum tile fragments.  
  
"What now Ryoga?" Ranma shielded himself with a bathroom stall door. "Why didn't you settle this before I got to school?"  
  
"Coward! You know it took me until now to track you here!"  
  
"I was in the next room you moron!"  
  
"That's besides the point!" He hit the stall door forming a huge dent into it. "You ran out on a man to man fight!" He kicked the door down lunging toward his prey.  
  
Ranma playfully dodged Ryoga's strike. "What man to man fight? You should at least let me know when we're supposed to do this." He ducked a kick then a punch.  
  
"You deserve to suffer!" Ryoga kicked again. "Akane was trying to be nice to you to protect you from your mother and you insulted her."  
  
"Nice to me? She wouldn't give me the shopping bag. Besides P-Chan, how would you know? Were you spying on me again?" Ranma leapt over another blow to land behind Ryoga. He planted his foot in the small of Ryoga's back but it only made the part time pig lose his balance for a second. Ranma took the opportunity to grab a bucket and run into an empty stall.  
  
"Never mind! You apologize to Akane!" Ryoga spun around to face his hated rival. He stormed the closed door that prevented him from seeing what Ranma was up to. He blindly charged the door to smash it down and crush Ranma with it.  
  
"Ryoga, I was kinda busy this morning, what with my mom visiting and all." Ranma clung to the ceiling above the toilet as his plan worked like a charm. The bucket containing toilet water that was sitting on the floor collided with the enraged Ryoga turning him into his porcine form. Ranma dropped down before Ryoga could get his bearings which for him was quite some time. Ranma held his prize in his hand by the bandana. "Quit it will you?"  
  
"Bwee!" P-chan struggled to free himself from Ranma's grip. The pig tried to bite Ranma and claw his face.  
  
"Fine! If you won't listen to reason then listen to this!" He flung the little pig out the window into the sky. "Man, won't he ever chill out?"  
  
Ranma picked up his buckets, filled them and surveyed the damage to the restroom caused by Ryoga's rampage. He shook his head and went to his assigned post at the doorway to the classroom. Ranma leaned against the wall outside of his classroom holding his punishment. He looked at both buckets and began to lift them to exercise his arms. He finished a single set of repetitions when Miss Hinako called out to him again. "Mr. Saotome, do not use that time to work out. You are to stay in place for your punishment until I call you in. Understand?"  
  
"Yes teacher." Ranma dropped his arms grumbling.  
  
"Ranma Saotome! What have you done with the pig tailed girl?"  
  
Ranma stared at the ceiling as he quietly begged the gods to stop tormenting him. "What now, Kuno?"  
  
Tatewaki Kuno held his bokken out in preparation for a duel. "The pig tailed one is attending class in your room. Where is she?"  
  
Ranma stared at Kuno in the eyes with distaste. "You're lookin' at her chum."  
  
Kuno raised his battle aura and lifted his bokken to strike a blow. "Don't mock me. How dare you treat your betters in such manner? Tell me where she is and I'll go easy on you."  
  
Ranma gently dropped his buckets so that they would land but not spill their contents. "I don't need to mock you. You do a good enough job on yourself as it is."  
  
"Saotome! You cur!" Kuno swung his staff at Ranma's midsection. Ranma arced his back to allow the stick to swing harmlessly by then lifted his foot to land a kick on Kuno's ribs. He then continued falling backwards into a backflip. Kuno slid backwards from the blow knocking the buckets over onto the floor. Ranma landed the moment the water splashed his legs.  
  
Kuno quickly regained his balance and stood again to charge the foul sorcerer. He saw a vision of loveliness before him and immediately changed his tactics. "Ah! The pig tailed goddess has come to cheer me on in battle."  
  
Ranko sighed. "Here we go again." She clenched her fist as the love struck kendoist ran to embrace the object of his desire. Ranko's punch sent Kuno out the third floor window onto the grass below. Ranko held her pose after the impact to release her battle aura and calm down after her fight.  
  
Miss Hinako ran to the hall to check on the commotion. "Mr. Saotome, you've got detention for fighting."  
  
Ranko stood straight as she heard the punishment. "But Kuno started it."  
  
"You could've called me to take care of that delinquent instead of taking matters into your own hands." Hinako tapped one of the buckets with her slipper. "I expect you to refill your buckets and continue standing out here until you learn to curb your violent side." Hinako turned to her class. "Students, back to your desks. The show's over." She went back inside.  
  
Ranko grabbed her two empty buckets and marched back to the restroom. She entered the men's room and refilled the first bucket. "Man, can't I get a break today." She saw a janitor in the middle of the room scratching his head wondering why the restroom was in shambles.   
  
The janitor turned to look at the red head. "Miss, you're in the wrong restroom."  
  
She filled the second bucket. "Obviously you don't know me do ya?" She turned off the faucet and turned on the hot water. She shoved her face into the sink and achieved maleness.  
  
"Miss, this is the men's room. Would you please..." The janitor noticed Ranma's growth spurt and hair color change. "ARGH! You're a demon!" He dropped his wrench and jumped out the window.  
  
"Great. That's all I need." He shut off the hot water, used a paper towel to dry himself off, picked up his buckets and walked to the exit. He opened the door of the restroom to find Shampoo standing there.  
  
"Nihao Ranma! Airen ready to take Shampoo out on date yes?" Shampoo glomped Ranma.  
  
"Shampoo! I don't have time for this."  
  
"Ranma say no have time. Now good good time for date. Ranma no in class now. Date good yes?" She smiled and squeezed Ranma tighter in a bone crushing embrace.  
  
"Ugh. Can't. Breathe." Ranma turned blue from lack of oxygen.  
  
"Come Ranma, we go on date now." Shampoo dragged an almost comatose Ranma to the stairway when another voice called out.  
  
"Ranma!" Akane produced a mallet to teach her wayward fiance a lesson. "Our teacher sent me to check up on you and I find you going on a date with cat woman?"  
  
Ranma jerked at the mention of the word that involved a feline then resigned himself to his fate. He spoke without any real effort behind the words since he knew it didn't really matter. "It's not what it looks like..." He was smashed into a wall by a giant mallet.  
  
Akane focused her attention on the Amazon. "And as for you..."  
  
Shampoo gave an evil smile as she held out her bonbori. "Akane want fight for Ranma? Shampoo ready to defend Airen."  
  
"Wait up sugar. You're not fighting over Ranchan unless I'm in on it too." Ukyou held out her battle spatula.  
  
"Ho ho ho ho ho." Kodachi appeared out of nowhere wearing a lime green gymnastic leotard. "You can fight all you want girls, but Ranma darling is mine."  
  
Akane tossed her mallet aside since the fiancee brigade was all present and accounted for. "See if I care. If he wants to the marry the three of you, let him!" She stormed off back to her classroom to report on the impending destruction of the high school.  
  
Shampoo watched Akane walk away. "If Akane no care, why Akane hit Airen?"  
  
Kodachi held her hands to her face in surprise. "She hit him? Again? Where is my darling? I must nurse him back to health as any good wife should."  
  
Ukyou blocked Kodachi's way toward Ranma who was imbedded into the wall. "Look sister, if anyone's nursing him back to health, it's going to be me."  
  
"Spatula girl wrong. Shampoo wife to Airen. Shampoo duty to heal husband."  
  
Ranma peeled his hand from the wall. He tried to peel the rest of himself off to make good on an escape. "Why won't they just leave me alone?"  
  
"Ranchan is my responsibility."  
  
"Airen is husband. Shampoo heal."  
  
"Darling! Your beloved is here to assist you."  
  
Ranma began crawling away trying to flee the madness behind him. He realized he failed when he was spotted trying to get away.  
  
"Ranchan, let me take you to the nurse's office."  
  
"Airen need go to Cat Cafe for Chinese herbs."  
  
"I'll mix up just the right salve to cure your aches and pains darling."  
  
Ranma felt six hands grab him and attempt to pull him in three seperate directions. "Please put me down."  
  
Ukyou elbowed Shampoo to get her to release Ranma's legs. Shampoo swung a fist at Ukyou but struck her spatula instead. Kodachi clubbed Shampoo on the head with her gymnastic pin. Ukyou threw a small spatula to disarm the gymnast. Shampoo kicked Ukyou's feet out from under her. Kodachi flung a ribbon at Shampoo to yank out her bonbori. Ukyou threw a spatula at Shampoo while she was recovering from the loss of her weapon.  
  
Ranma hit the floor as the three girls around him formed a dust cloud with spatulas, fists, assorted other weapons and human heads occasionally emerging from the melee and shouts of combat echoed through the hall. "I know I'm going to blamed for this, but what could make this worse?"  
  
"Happo five-yen sastu!" Hinako with Akane standing beside her sucked the chi from the three crazed fiancees. Soon, three dried husks remained where a battle took place. "And you Mr. Saotome, get to go to the pricipal's office."  
  
Ranma buried his head in his hands in despair. "Why do I keep asking that stupid question?"  
========================================  
A fax came in that the Major was expecting. He yanked the final sheet and read the numbers and facts printed on it. He looked at the translucent photo in his other hand confirming what should be only found in sci-fi novels. He sprinted to his commander's office barging in due to the seriousness of the situation. "Colonel, we've got a situation here. It's a possible first contact with an alien species." He shoved the set of images into the surprised Colonel's hands.  
  
Colonel Richardson held the photo plates to the ceiling light. He was the watch officer at the Pentagon Space Command center at this early morning hour. The images in the pictures couldn't be mistaken for anything but what was being claimed by the Major. "These can't be right. You've got to be kidding me."  
  
Major Danowitz shook his head confirming the Colonel's fear. "No sir, this is straight from N.A.S.A. We're getting confirmation from the Japanese Space Agency and the Russians. The object is rapidly approaching Earth."  
  
Richardson traced the outline of the massive object in space that was shown by the radar images he was looking at. An image of the moon was also in the picture to give a sense of scale. "What is this thing?"  
  
"Hell if I know. It's over five hundred fifty kilometers across and N.A.S.A. estimates it has the mass of one quarter of the moon. S.E.T.I's people in New Mexico are getting signals from it and from the moon. And..." Danowitz's face betrayed the fear he had as he fidgeted with a fax he was holding.  
  
Richardson was not in the mood for any word games. "Out with it."  
  
Danowitz took a deep breath. "It's slowing down. There is no doubt that this object is artificial."  
  
"What? You can't be serious. Aliens?"  
  
He placed a document with times and speeds in a neat list on the table. "N.A.S.A. has clocked its speed and it's been losing velocity ever since it was detected by a Japanese astronomer." He placed a smudged fax next to the N.A.S.A. document. "A Kansas astronomer also confirmed the findings."  
  
The Colonel leaned back into his chair. "So, what do we do about this? This isn't exactly something I've ever had to deal with." He tapped his fingers on his desk and picked up his phone to make a call that would make or break his career. "Get me General Grey." He paused for a moment as the Major became more nervous with each passing second. "Yes, I know what time it is. Get him on the phone. NOW!"  
  
  
========================================  
Ranma sat in a chair next to the principal's office. He was dreading having to see the wacked out hawaiian schoolmaster. "Aloha Keiki! You be seein' da big kahuna, no?"  
  
Ranma groaned. He got up and wordlessly entered the domain of the most insane member of the Kuno family. Ranma sat down across from his desk while looking around for any hidden hair cutting devices. He instinctively held on to his pig tail for luck.  
  
"Ya bein' extra bad today, boy." The principal had a gleam in his tooth. "You be needin' a new look." He pulled out a hair cutting instrument. "Or shall I just sent ya 'ome so yous' parents 'an get ya into uniform."  
  
Ranma debated the choice and came to an answer in five point four milliseconds. "Send me home."  
  
"Ah keiki! Yous' wanna miss out of yous' education? Why no wear proper uniform? If yous' be girl, yous' get bowl cut an' wear dress. If yous' be boy, yous' wear blue shirt an' pants." He put down his shears and stood up with his hands firmly on his desk. "Ya bein' very bad to discipline 'ere. No 'ore special rules fo' ya. Ya be girl. Ya be boy."  
  
"I'm a guy!"  
  
"Then dress like big kahuna! No wear red shirt, you wear blue shirt 'ike all other boy keiki. Now go, ya mother's coming to get you."  
  
Ranma froze. "M-m-mother? My mother's coming here?"  
  
"Mother, Aunt, I dunno. My keiki call ya home and they send someone to get ya." He handed him a hall pass. "Go to da main office an' wait for yo mother dere."  
  
Ranma rolled his eyes then took the slip. He ran down the hall, toward the front student entryway and stopped at his little cubby hole where he stashed his shoes and bag of clothes. He snatched the bag and ran into the men's restroom to change back into Ranko and wear the Furinkan girl's uniform before his mother showed up and finds Ranko wearing the wrong clothes. He hoped against all hope that his mother wasn't expecting to pick up Ranma and that he could come up with an excuse as to why Ranko was confused with Ranma.  
  
Ranko finished putting on her stockings when she heard a familiar voice call out for her. "Ranko? Where are you?"  
  
Ranko thanked the gods since the voice belonged to Kasumi. She brushed off her dress and folded the grocery bag shut then walked out to greet her 'cousin'. She opened the restroom door to find Nodoka standing next to Kasumi. Nodoka frowned at her niece. "Ranko, what's this about you fighting at school?"  
  
The red head grumbled and took back the kind words she spoke to the gods. "I'm sorry Auntie. But Kuno won't leave me alone."  
  
"We'll discuss this later." Her mother looked over her 'nieces' dress. "Odd, your uniform seems to be in order. Why did the principal say she wasn't wearing proper clothes?"  
  
"Auntie, Let's just go. The principal is a loon and expects everyone to have their head shaved." She rattled her brain to try to keep the focus on Ranko. "I.. uh... refused to get a bowl cut."  
  
Nodoka stood stunned at the thought of Ranko missing her long beautiful hair. Kasumi nodded in agreement. "Mrs. Saotome, the principal is a raving lunatic."  
  
"I see. Very well, let's go home shall we? I'll write a letter to the school board about this." She took her favorite Tendo by the hand and escorted her out the front gates. "Oh by the way, Kasumi tells me that you don't have very many pairs of proper underwear."  
  
Ranko knew where this was going. This day was going further downhill fast.  
  
"I've decided to take you shopping." Nodoka gave a happy glow. "Won't that be fun?"  
  
Ranko did everything in her power to not show the utter revulsion she had to the idea of going shopping for girl's underwear. "Yeah, Auntie. Sound's like fun." She fought off the urge to bolt while returning a happy smile to her mother.  
  
Kasumi bowed to the pair. "I have to go shopping for groceries and prepare dinner for tonight." She gave a sad look to Ranko. "Please Ranko, have a good time." She glanced at Nodoka with a look of longing. She left to go to the grocery store quietly thinking to herself. "Why doesn't Ranma just tell her. I wish I could see my mother again."  
  
Mrs. Saotome had to ask a question. "Ranko?"  
  
"Yes Auntie?"  
  
"Why were you in the men's restroom?"  
  
"..."  
========================================  
Several hours and seven lingerie stores later...  
  
Ranko sat at dinner listening to Nodoka complain about Ranko's eating habits and then happily describe in painstaking detail each and every store they visited in their shopping expedition. Akane on numerous occasions giggled and laughed as the neverending list of bras and panties were lovingly recollected in complete accuracy for the girls at the table. Ranko wanted to curl up and die.  
  
Nabiki needed to have some fun at Ranko's expense. "Oh Ranko, it seems that you skipped out on your rendezvous tonight."  
  
Ranko wanted to curl up Nabiki into unnatural shapes. "Rendezvous?"  
  
Nodoka was overjoyed at the news. "You've got a boyfriend? Oh Ranko, how wonderful."  
  
Nabiki kept her poker face while continuing her torture of Ranko. "Yeah, your friend Hiroshi from school called. He said you were supposed to meet him after class. Something about an electronics project?" She held out her hand in the commonly accepted practice of accepting a bribe.  
  
Ranko ever so slightly nodded to agree to the terms of the extortion while silently cursing Nabiki's very existence. "Oh Hiroshi. He's uh... Just trying to show off his satellite dish thing."  
  
Nodoka wanted to know this future son-in-law's life story. "Ranko, why didn't you tell me that you have a boyfriend. Is he handsome?"  
  
"Auntie, he's not my boyfriend. He's just a classmate at school." Ranko twitched her head to give a signal to Nabiki to help get her out of this mess.  
  
"I'm sorry Mrs. Saotome. I meant to say appointment for her tutoring. She's way behind at school and she studies at the library. Hiroshi is her assigned study buddy."  
  
Nodoka looked downcast but perked up a moment later. "Oh, well maybe you might try to get to know him better."  
  
Ranko shriveled up. "I can honestly say that he's not my type."  
  
Akane turned beet red, put down her chopsticks and ran from the dining room. Guffaws of hysterical laugher echoed from the outside of the house as Akane lost control while sprinting to the dojo.  
  
Nabiki smirked at a job well done.  
  
Kasumi held up a serving spoon completely ignoring her sister's antics. "Anyone want more rice?"  
  
A panda whimpered outside as he looked at his bowl of yesterday's leftovers and sniffed the fresh food inside. Soun slid a bowl of rice over to his grateful animal friend.  
  
The meal ended and Ranko excused herself then trudged up the stairs, down the hall and into her room. She lay down on her bedroll to get some shut eye to end this miserable day. "How could today get any worse?"  
  
Outside, a rustling sounded as the resident pervert returned from his nightly excursion. "What a haul!" He bounced into the room landing next to Ranko. "C'mon sweetie! Put this on!" Happosai pulled out a very lacy bra holding it out for Ranko to take.  
  
Ranko pulled her covers over her face and moaned. "What did I do to deserve this?"  
  
Happosai took the moan for all the wrong perverted reasons. "Oh, I see you're in the mood eh? Well then..." He started to drool and stuck his tongue out to lick something he really shouldn't.  
  
Ranko flared her battle aura, pulled her blanket down and slammed the freak out of the window while he was thinking of doing something that would terrify most creatures of the night. Ranko glared at the empty space as the little man disappeared into the sky. Ranko slid the window shut and locked it tight resisting the urge to grab wooden planks and board up the window to prevent Happosai from returning. She brushed off the remaining panties that Happosai left behind from her t-shirt then went back to bed.  
  
"Ok, now this day has been the most terrible on record." She snuggled in her bedroll lamenting the events of the day. "Well, there's no way that tomorrow could be any worse." She immediately regretted issuing the challenge to the gods of chaos.  
========================================  
The hive was bustling with activity as the mothership settled into a stable orbit around the planet the travelers would call home for the next one thousand years. Many members of their society were happy that they were chosen for be part of the first wave of settlers to breathe in the fresh clean air of an unspoiled world.  
  
Each first wave craft was massive in its own right. A black disk twenty one kilometers across and five kilometers high with a flat bottom and a curved top much like a frisbee. A tall spire jutted out of a concave indentation on one side of the top that acted as the landing bay and command center. Checklists were followed and final preparations were made before departure from their home in space to the gravity well of a blue planet.  
  
Satellites around Earth were being fed a signal to synchronize the attack. Displays all over the ships showed the same image of a sequence of patterns that represented the time remaining before the cleansing was to start. "All crew to your stations." The thought came across the bowels of the mothership. Countless millions of aliens walked across giant gantries and narrow tubes entering over thirty city sized flying saucers for their trip to Earth. They entered their travel compartments and strapped themselves in for a bumpy ride. The pilots set the shields for entry into the atmosphere then held on for an exciting ride. The passengers had the excitement of kids going on a rollercoaster at a theme park.  
  
The countdown reached the next milestone and the access tubes sealed shut. Five hundred meter wide clamps retracted allowing the ships to freely move for the first time in centuries. One by one, the massive vessels detached from the womb of the moon sized ship they called home and followed the preplanned courses that would take them over their designated landing spots. The plan was going like clockwork. Soon the countdown would be over and the colonization of Earth would begin.  
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Author's Notes: Please review my story. It makes me feel oh so happy and prevents me from filling your home with rice.  
  
Bill Heineman  
March 2nd, 2003  
========================================  
burger@contrabandent.com  
  
======================================== 


	4. They Arrive

Ranma 1/2 Independence Day: Chapter 4 They Arrive  
Set during the middle of Ranma 1/2 before Ranma's mom finds out about the truth of his curse.  
  
Based on the film "Independence Day" By Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich and Ranma 1/2 by Rumiko Takahashi  
By Bill Heineman  
  
I don't own these characters. Please don't sue me, kill me or take away my precious. You hobbits can't have my precious!  
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July 2nd, morning...  
========================================  
General Grey put down the phone handset after his conversation with the Secretary of Defense. He wasn't thrilled about the meeting with the president he was ordered to arrive at in an hour. He sighed in contemplation as he mentally prepared himself to bark out his orders in answer to the most unusual threat he had ever faced. "Amanda." His assistant stood at attention by his side. "I need a car outside in fifteen minutes to take me and several men to the White House. Major, I need you to collect all information you can about whatever this thing is and feed me the information when I call you. Colonel, assign some men to meet me at the White House in a hour with every scrap of intelligence we've got no matter how trivial it may appear. I'll be briefing the president on this situation and I want the most up to date information I can give him."  
  
Major Danowitz nodded to acknowledge his orders. "I'm on it." He walked off to check on the fax machine for more recent news from NASA or NORAD.  
  
Colonel Richardson stared at the lit table the men had their meeting around to brief the General on what amounted to an alien visitation. He shook his head at the sheer insanity that he was witness to. "I can't believe this is happening."  
  
Grey mocked him since he was going to present the president with what amounted to the plot of a sci-fi novel. "You can't believe this? Heh, I'm going before president Whitmore, telling him effectively that Marvin the Martian is paying us a visit and I'll look like a total idiot if this turns out to be an elaborate hoax. Mark my words men, if this is someone's sick idea of a joke, I'm personally locking up the bastard responsible for this for the rest of his miserable life."  
  
Richardson kept his eyes glued to the picture of the sphere floating near the moon. "And if this isn't a hoax? What do we do then?"  
  
General Grey stood at attention then dropped his gaze to the pictures on the table. He wordlessly collected the 8x10 slides and slid them into a manilla envelope. He without uttering an answer, turned to leave the building to go to his meeting with the president of the United States of America.  
  
The Colonel watched his commanding officer walk away and disappear around a corner with his assistants in tow. "That's what I figured."  
========================================  
They strapped themselves into deep cushioned chairs for the final leg of their journey. Alerts were sent throughout the ship as the aliens prepared for the shock and heat of aerobraking though the atmosphere of their new home. The entire bottom of the ship was painstakingly covered with a thin material that would protect the belly of the city sized ship and allow it to survive the friction of entry until it was safely over the landing area.  
  
Contact was made with the upper atmosphere with the flat bottom of the craft bursting into a huge ball of smoke and flame. The ship gave a shudder as millions of cubic meters of air was displaced and the ship lost velocity. All over the earth, streaks of what looked like doomsday comets were seen hurling across the sky from the dozens of saucers arriving. Soon their true nature would be known to the population of the Earth.  
========================================  
Captain Garret took a sip of his coffee during his pre-dawn break as he stared into the computer display of his 757 jet liner. He looked out the front window at the endless darkness as his plane flew on auto-pilot toward the city of Tokyo Japan from San Francisco California. He sat down his mug into the cup holder and turned the page of his magazine.  
  
Commander Jacobson, the copilot, noticed the sky was brightening above them. "Captain, there's something odd going on outside." He checked his watch. "It's not time yet for the sun to come up." He put down his logbook then visually scanned the horizon for the source of the orange glow.  
  
"Hmm?" Garret glanced at the gauges again and the main computer display for any sign of trouble. "Don't see anything wrong with the systems." He flicked a switch. "Radar's clear."  
  
The aircraft gently shuddered and the outside grew brighter. The Commander checked his seat belt. "What the hell? There's something above us."  
  
The Captain kicked in his years of training and took the controls. "Tokyo control. This is Freedom Air Flight 121. Inbound Tokyo. We are seeing a... Uh..." An orange glow came from the sky above deep within a massive billowing black cloud. "Meteor?" The cloud was getting closer making the jet lurch sideways from the air pressure. "Tower, I'm declaring an emergency. Dropping to ten thousand feet. We have some sort of atmospheric disturbance coming from directly above our position." He turned to his copilot. "We're clear below right?"  
  
The copilot scanned the displays for other aircraft. "I've got nothing below us. We're clear."  
  
"Good. Hit the signs and send the call." He pushed the controls forward to put the plane into a dive.  
  
The copilot turned on the 'fasten seatbelt' lights. He called over the stewardess in the first class section over. "We have a code five. Please get the passengers into their seats." She nodded, then went to alert the crew that the plane could violently pitch.  
  
The Captain turned on the intercom. "This is your Captain speaking. We are experiencing unexpected turbulence and request that you return to your seats and fasten your seatbelts. Flight crew, we're at code five. Thank you." He shut off the mike and muttered. "That bull should take care of them for a while. Descending to ten thousand feet."  
  
The plane began a rapid descent while the clouds below reflected the eerie orange glow from above. A shockwave slammed the aircraft causing it to lurch to the right. Commander Jacobson turned on his radio mike. "Tokyo control, this is Freedom Air 121, we've hit turbulence and are losing control." He grabbed a map as the aircraft shook more violently. "Crap. The closest airport is Tokyo International."  
  
The speaker cracked out a reply from Japan. "Say again 121. Your signal's breaking up."  
  
The pilot pushed the yoke forward to drop the plane faster as a loud rumbling filled the plane that was not coming from inside the craft. "I think we're going to ditch. Alert the crew."  
  
"God damn..." Jacobson stared out the front window as the entire sky was filled with fire and smoke directly above and in front of their plane. The cloud was moving faster then they were and overtook their craft leaving them behind.  
  
"I think I've got it." The plane stopped shuddering as they reached fourteen thousand feet and were under the wake of the object. "We're stable." The Captain let out his breath that he held as he was fighting the aircraft for control. "Just what is that thing?"  
  
"Tokyo control. This is flight 121, there is some kind of storm cloud or meteor or something heading to Tokyo."  
  
"121, we have it on radar. What do you see?"  
  
"It's big, orange and made of smoke. Looks like a giant meteor."  
  
The two pilots sat watching the phenomenon in awe totally forgetting the panicked stewardess behind them. A full minute passed as the pilots simply sat in their seats watching the object fly away from them. The radio came back to life. "All inbound aircraft to Tokyo and Yokohama airports are to immediately divert to Okinawa. Do not attempt a landing in the Tokyo or Yokohama airports. All craft are to divert..."  
  
The pilots stared at each other in dismay. "Well, there goes Tokyo."  
========================================  
"How much longer?" Daisuke lay upon Hiroshi's bed while his friend tinkered with his pirate satellite decoder box.   
  
"Just another minute. I think I've figured out a way to filter out this jamming." Hiroshi flicked the switch and the Playboy channel came on his TV set with vertical bars of distortion still present and blocking his view of female flesh. "Argh! I thought I had it too."   
  
Daisuke flipped the Dragonball Z manga he was reading to the next page. It was far more interesting than watching Hiroshi accomplish nothing for the last few hours. "It's a good thing Ranma bailed on us. He had the right idea."  
  
"Shut up. I know what I'm doing." He traced out the schematic diagram again. "Maybe I need a new ROM. Yeah, that's it, I need the latest version of the decoding software. I know just the guy who can give it to me." He pushed his chair from his makeshift workbench next to the TV and wheeled over to his HAM radio set. "Martin over in Auckland has a working box and I'll ask him what he did." He turned on the power supply to his antenna.  
  
"New Zealand? Don't you know that it's... Oh no! It's past four in the morning! You had me stay up until four in the morning!" Daisuke tossed aside the manga. "Miss Hinako is going to suck us dry in class for this."   
  
"Ok! Ok! It'll be worth it I'm telling ya." Hiroshi turned on his radio and the speaker immediately filled the room with chatter. Someone speaking in Russian came on the line speaking a kilometer a minute in an obvious panic. Someone else speaking in Hindu came on then someone spoke in French.  
  
A man with a Hawaiian accent came on the speakers. He didn't sound nearly as bad as Principal Kuno. "It's completely covering the sky! Jesus Christ it's huge. This is Honolulu Hawaii reporting a meteor westbound across the pacific. The wake is still... Oh dear god. There's another one going east bound."  
  
Another voice came on while the first was still talking. "I'm in Okinawa Japan. My dad just got called to base. I think they went to Defcon three or something. What's happening to my daddy?"  
  
The TV's picture blanked out with a picture of the American Emergency Broadcast system on the screen. The two Furinkan students were in shock as to what was going on. A newscaster came on the tube. "This is CNN reporting. We've just gotten word that an asteroid is flying over the republic of Russia. Here's a live feed."  
  
The picture changed to a camera in St. Petersburg with the sky lit up with a slow moving fireball lazily arching across the sky. A news reporter spoke in Russian with an English translator. "The object appears to be a comet or meteor but is moving too..."  
  
Bzzzz. Hiroshi changed the channel.  
  
A picture of an American newscaster was on with the caption live from Honolulu HI. "... can see, the object is moving west toward Asia. All flights have been grounded and we've got..."  
  
Bzzzz. Hiroshi changed the channel.  
  
",.. the coast of Japan. We're awaiting word from NASA ..."  
  
Bzzzz. Hiroshi changed the channel.  
  
"Megaman! I shall defeat you!" Cried out the enemy of the saviour of the world. Megaman stood in all his glory to face his opponent when the TV changed to a scene in a news room. "We interrupt this program with an important bulletin."  
  
Daisuke looked at Hiroshi with a look of sadness. "I guess we're not going to watch the Playboy channel tonight. Are we?"  
========================================  
Cologne was sleeping in her futon when she shot awake. She sat up in complete trepidation and suspicion. "Hmm... Something's not right." She stared out the window at the rustling tree branches. She saw nor heard anything out of the ordinary but every fiber of her being told her that danger was coming. "I must consult the elders." She reached over to her dresser drawer and got out her little black book. The amazons may have been married to three thousand years of history and culture. But they had telephones and an Internet connection in the village in China. They weren't stupid.  
========================================  
Ukyou slept like a log dreaming of serving okonomiyaki to a customer with Ranma by her side. It was another wonderful dream for another wonderful night. She turned onto her side to get comfortable as the room vibrated. She popped her eyes open and bolted upright. "Oh great, an earthquake." She waited until the shaking stopped before she got out of bed. She knew the earthquake safety procedures so she put on some slippers and went downstairs to check on the gas line. She spent two minutes checking and smelling for any gas leaks then went outside to check the mains.   
  
Ukyou went over to the gas gauge and shone her flashlight at it. There was no odor or any unusual noise like gas flowing though a pipe. Satisfied that her restaurant was safe she took a look around the alley and heard a helicopter fly overhead. She watched the chopper cross the sky and saw a circle of blackness where stars were supposed to be.  
  
She squinted her eyes and realized what she was looking at. She ran inside to her bedroom to turn on the TV to figure out what she just saw. She watched TV for an hour then packed a bag and headed to the Tendo Dojo.  
========================================  
Ranko slept like a log mumbling in her sleep. "Mom, pantyhose can be manly." The room vibrated as a deep bass rumbling filled the air. Shortly the microquake stopped.  
  
Mr. Panda snorted and growlfed.  
  
Mrs. Saotome who stayed the night opened her eyes then looked around. "Hmm. I must of been dreaming." She turned to see Ranko sound asleep and smiled at the young girl. She pulled up the blankets to cover the red head. "Don't worry Ranko, Auntie's here for you." Nodoka lay back down to catch some sleep.  
  
Nabiki stared out the window of her room. She woke to the vibrations and was about to check the house for earthquake damage when she saw the cloud fly in from the east and a sight that she would never forget in her life appeared before her.  
  
A city sized spacecraft emerged from the cloud and was now hovering directly above downtown Tokyo. The ship was so large that she couldn't see from one side to another. Nabiki had her headphones on and was intently listening to the news on the radio. She meticulously took notes, listing all the cities that these things were arriving at. She already had listed Los Angeles, Washington DC, London, Moscow, Beijing and Berlin. The night was young.  
========================================  
Ranko's eye's fluttered open since her sleep was interrupted by a strange noise. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and yawned to greet a new day. Ranko examined her bedroll for any signs of her mother who wasn't anywhere in sight. "Hey, pops. Last one out gets to make the bed." She darted out the window to take her position on the roof to do her daily beating of her father.  
  
Ranko started a simple warm up kata totally oblivious to the black saucer directly to the south. She stretched and shifted getting her muscles warmed up. She ducked as a bear claw came down where her head was. "Too slow pops." She jumped aside to return a blow to the panda's midsection that was blocked by a furry arm.  
  
"Ha! Can't catch me!" She taunted her father by performing a back flip then reversed direction to leap and land behind the bear. Mr. Panda turned around to perform an overhead strike when he froze in alarm. Ranko seized the opening to slam a kick to knock the bear off the roof and onto the grass below. "C'mon, you can do better than that. What's gotten into you?" Ranko stood at the roof's edge looking down at her unconscious furry father. She noticed the yard was darker than normal so she turned around to see what was casting the shadow.  
  
Ranko's eye grew the size of saucers as she saw for the first time the thing that distracted her father. Ukyou stood on the roof walking calmly to Ranko. "Yeah sugar. These things are all over the world. That's all they're talking about on the news."  
  
Ranko weakly pointed her finger to the black metallic disc that slowly rotated over the center of Tokyo. "Ucchan, what is that?"  
  
Ukyou stood next to her fiancee focusing her gaze to the south. "We've been invaded honey. Pretty impressive isn't it?"  
  
"When? How? Why?" Ranko stuttered as she remembered what happened yesterday. "Ah man, I had to ask how things could get worse didn't I?"  
  
"Yeah sugar, this is pretty high on the worse scale I think. Let's go downstairs, the Emperor is supposed to make a speech in an hour. Maybe he's got a clue because I sure don't."  
  
"Oh, Ucchan, my mom's here so if you don't mind, could ya please call me Ranko today."  
  
"Sure honey." She gave a knowing smile.  
========================================  
The Tendos and the Saotomes watched TV with shock and just a hint of fear. News kept coming in from all over the world that city sized spacecraft had parked themselves over thirty major cities all over the world. Nabiki sat off to the side with a map of the world and stuck thumbtacks where ships were confirmed to be hovering over.  
  
Kasumi came from the kitchen holding a tray of drinks. "Here you go everyone."  
  
Nabiki sniped. "Sis, how can you be so chipper?"  
  
"Why shouldn't I be? We've got guests and I'm certain they'll be bringing gifts."  
  
Nabiki stared at her map. "I wouldn't be so sure."  
  
"You've got to look with better eyes little sister." Kasumi smiled that special smile she reserved for weddings and birthdays. "Imagine what they could teach us."  
  
Akane refused to take her eyes away from the TV. "I wonder if they study martial arts. Maybe they'd might want to learn Anything Goes?"  
  
Nodoka wanted to be happy but couldn't find the strength. "They might. I'm certain my son would make an excellent teacher."  
  
Ranko sulked.  
  
Akane stared at Ranko and gritted her teeth as Ukyou held Ranko's shoulders in a gesture of friendship and support. "I don't know. I don't think he's taught anyone the art yet."  
  
Ukyou took offense to the stab at Ranma's character. "Hey, Ranma honey's going to be a great teacher. I don't know where you get off saying something like that in front of his mother."  
  
"Have you seen my son?" Nodoka held out a faint glimmer of hope. "Do you know where he is?"  
  
Ukyou glanced at Ranko and felt bad lying to her potential mother-in-law. "I hadn't seen him recently."  
  
"But you've seen him? Tell me? Is he strong?"  
  
Ukyou glowed at the images of Ranma as her husband floated in her imagination. "Oh yes." She held her hands together under one cheek swooning. "He's perfect." She reclined into Ranko's lap resting her head on her legs. "He's so dreamy." She stared into Ranko's eyes as Ranko turned away and tried to slide backward.  
  
Nodoka got weirded out by Ukyou's display of affection that seemed to be directed at another girl, namely Ranko. The elder turned to Akane who was glowing a very bright blue and shaking in anger. "Akane, what's the matter dear?"  
  
Akane dropped her battle aura smiling a cute child like smile. "Why nothing at all Auntie. She looked at the TV again. "Well, maybe something."  
  
As Nodoka was distracted, Ranko gently shoved Ukyou off her lap and whispered into her ear. "Ukyou, be careful around my mom, if she finds out I turn into a girl, it's off with my head. Do you understand?"  
  
Ukyou blushed at the thought of what Mrs. Saotome could have thought by her show of affection to her Ranchan. "Sorry."  
  
Akane waved to everyone in the room. "Quiet! The Emperor is coming on."  
  
Nabiki grew even colder in her quest for information. She was writing notes on a pad of paper that was rapidly running out of empty space.  
  
The TV showed a podium with a caption saying that it was live from the Imperial Palace. The Emperor of Japan approached the mike and gently tapped it to make sure it was working. He gave a very light bow to the camera.  
  
"My people. It is a great day for Japan. We have been honored to have been selected as one of the hosts for a race of beings who have travelled the stars to visit our world. I humbly request that we welcome these travelers with open arms and open homes. I expect that we will in the coming days share our wealth of history, culture and knowledge as they will do the same for us."  
  
Nabiki muttered. "Presumptuous isn't he?"  
  
Akane held her finger to her mouth. "Shhh..."  
  
A small picture in a picture appeared with the Emperor being in the larger picture and a camera scene from outside the Imperial Palace where the ship was directly overhead was in the little one. "Directly above my home, sits a testament to a people who have achieved what we on Earth have been trying to achieve for almost a century. They can travel across the stars." He had a look of awe and paused dramatically for effect. "Due to the circumstances of today, I must make these general announcements. All schools and public buildings will be closed for today and vehicle travel through downtown Tokyo will be suspended. All rail service will stay in operation and I request that my people do not crowd around my palace. We need to make our new friends comfortable. We shall show them our unique way of life and hospitality befitting a most honored guest. Thank you my people for hearing my words and showing our new friends that we are worthy of their respect and kindness."  
  
He took a step back and gave a gentle bow to the camera. The signal changed to the main newsroom. "That concludes the Emperor's speech. Here are excerpts from the United States President's..."  
  
Akane hit the mute button. "Well that didn't say anything."  
  
Kasumi picked up the empty tea cups. "What do you mean?"  
  
"Well, what to they look like? Do they look like E.T.? Mr. Spock?"  
  
Ukyou laughed. "I know, it's a race of purpled haired Amazons!"  
  
Ranko raised her arms in shock and sheer terror. "Don't you even joke about that!"  
  
Akane glanced out the back door that had an excellent view of the ship. "I wonder if they could teach me the Vulcan nerve pinch?"  
  
Ranko went back to her usual cocky self now that martial arts was the topic of conversation instead of something useless like alien visitors. "Heh, like you'd be able to master that pressure point technique."  
  
Akane huffed. "What? You know how to knock someone out by squeezing their neck?"  
  
Ranko crossed her arms while puffing out her chest like a typical male. It was a rather stupid pose for a buxom female. "Akane, watcha gotta do is strike the nerve clusters to knock someone out, not mimic somethin' out of a dumb TV show."   
  
"Well excuse me Miss I know everything."  
  
Nabiki slammed a book down on the floor. "Will you two macho chicks shut up for a minute. I'm trying to think over here."  
  
Nodoka fingered her katana in case Nabiki decided to continue her assault on helpless books and move on to other targets. "What are you thinking about?"  
  
Nabiki held her face in her hands. "They're not here to be our friends." She tossed her pad of notes aside. "It's no different than a hostile corporate takeover."  
  
Kasumi kneeled next to her sister. "No, they're here to be our friends."  
  
Nabiki turned into her Ice Queen persona. "No they're not. They wouldn't do a show of force, they'd radio the world leaders and appear on TV in a tiny craft or even just a TV broadcast." She looked at the TV which showed a picture of a ship over the Empire State Building in New York City. "They're showing us that we don't matter one bit." She collected her things around her end of the table. "I'm leaving town. If any of you wish to join me, pack now." She walked towards the stairway.  
  
Soun cried like a baby pouring a fountain of tears. "Don't leave us! Daddy needs you!"  
  
"Then Dad, pack your bags and travel light. Only bring food, batteries and two changes of clothes." She surveyed the people in the room. "They're going to take over and make us all slaves or food or something that I don't want to think about. They're not here to exchange fashion tips." She ran up to her room. She had to put her plan into motion if she was going to survive.  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
Author's Notes: Please review my story. It makes me feel oh so happy and I'll stop nailing little paper dolls on your backyard fence.  
  
Bill Heineman  
March 6th, 2003  
========================================  
burger@contrabandent.com  
  
======================================== 


	5. They Stop

Ranma 1/2 Independence Day: Chapter 5 They Stop  
Set during the middle of Ranma 1/2 before Ranma's mom finds out about the truth of his curse.  
  
Based on the film "Independence Day" By Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich and Ranma 1/2 by Rumiko Takahashi  
By Bill Heineman  
  
I don't own these characters. Please don't sue me, kill me or jam my radar with real raspberry jam. I hate it when you give me the raspberry.  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
July 2, Mid-Day.  
========================================  
Cologne tried for the fifteenth time to connect to the Amazon village on the phone. "All circuits are busy. Please check the number and dial again or call the operator for assistance."  
  
The elder swore an ancient Chinese curse on the phone company to go with the thousands of other hexes and curses that are cast daily on them. "I could have sent a carrier pigeon and gotten a reply before this infernal thing ever works." The phone company god heard her plea. The phone connected. "About time!"  
  
"Nihao!" Came a familiar voice to Cologne's ancient ear.  
  
"Lo Xian! It's good to hear your voice. Have you heard the news about the giant spacecraft above Tokyo?"  
  
"How could we not? The communists are broadcasting it on every TV and radio station. They want to make this a national holiday today to celebrate the birth of universal communism."  
  
The short white haired woman slumped in her chair. "Oh please. Next thing you know they'll be claiming that the Chairman was personally invited to be the first to greet these visitors."  
  
"Oh, so you've already heard that?" Lotion answered.  
  
"I was only kidding. Please tell me that that isn't what they're claiming."  
  
"It's on the news being broadcast every ten minutes. The Chairman is supposed to make some sort of speech in Tiananmen Square with loudspeakers. But this brings up a subject the council wanted to discuss with you."  
  
"With me?" Cologne loved her people dearly, but sometimes the council made rash decisions.  
  
"Yes, we wanted you to go to the ship in Tokyo and represent our people to them. We've just sent a delegation to Beijing but it will take them three days for them to travel there while you're next to a ship right now."  
  
Cologne's heart sank. "And what of the omens? Have you consulted with the ancestors about our course of action?"  
  
"The council spent over three hours communing with the ancestors. It was decided that we contact you to send you as our ambassador to the Japanese ship. Since the phones have been jammed, we sent Brush and Gloss to Beijing in case we couldn't reach you. I'm glad you called. I've been trying to get a hold of you for over an hour."  
  
She chuckled when she realized the phones were jammed because they were trying to call each other at the same time. "I must make a formal protest. I feel that the omens are foretelling something wicked. How could you have not seen the omens?"  
  
"We've seen them, but Gloss is convinced that it's because these beings are not in tune with the harmony of our world that the omens are incorrect. Once they're accepted here and become part of our world, everything should regain balance."  
  
"And if they're not accepted? What if the omens are correct and they mean us harm? What do we do about it?"  
  
The phone was quiet for a moment. "We leave our fate in the hands of our ancestors. Let's hope that they've taught us well."  
  
Cologne gripped her stick tightly. "Three thousand years of Amazon history, I hope it's enough." She hung up the phone. "Shampoo!"  
  
"Yes Great Grandmother?" Shampoo popped out of nowhere to answer her elder's call.  
  
"We're going to visit the son-in-law. I hope we can convince him to join us for a while."  
  
Shampoo clapped her hands. "Shampoo spend time with Airen!"  
  
Mousse broke his broom in the back room at the thought of Ranma showing up. His head was smacked with a walking stick in punishment for breaking cleaning supplies. The elder barked her orders. "Mousse, you stay here and prepare the ramen cart. We'll be setting up shop near the Imperial Palace."  
  
The hidden weapons master was not thrilled about the plan. "Uh... Isn't that close to the... Well..." He pointed out the window. "That thing?"  
  
"Yes. We'll do a lot of business feeding the crowds that have gathered there. Now hurry up, Shampoo and I have some business to attend to. When we return we'll be expecting the cart to be stocked and ready to go." She spun to face her great granddaughter. "We leave now."  
========================================  
Nabiki locked the door to her bedroom after she slammed it shut. She needed some privacy since she knew deep down that all of Ranma's friends, enemies, fiances, and the weirdoes that showed up just for the heck of it would arrive in moments causing yet another round of destruction to the Tendo home. This was the time of all times that Nabiki had to think things through alone and in peace.  
  
She turned on her computer to access the CNN website to get the latest information on the spaceships worldwide. She spent a few minutes surfing the web until she gathered the intelligence that she needed. The facts were adding up to a depressing answer. She cursed. "Damn."  
  
There were thirty ships spotted so far across the globe. Ten had already parked themselves over major population and government centers in the United States, Germany, Japan, England, France, Russia, Iraq and China. The other twenty were enroute to the capitals of Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, India, Israel, Libya and others. She scoured the pages for any hint of any successful contact with the aliens. Every news agency reported of attempts to talk to the visitors but no reply came from any transmission made to them. Well, the Weekly World News had 'exclusive' photos, but they didn't count.  
  
Nabiki reclined in her chair to reason out all of the possible scenarios. "If I wanted to make contact with the people of Earth, how would I do it?" She tapped her pencil to her head in deep contemplation. Ideas of how a massive show of force could be taken as a show of peace was over and over again dismissed by logic. The only idea that held any plausibility was for the aliens to stick around for years to teach humans that we were not alone in the universe despite what conspiracy theorists could come up with to try to say it was a government hoax. She dismissed that idea after coming up with a dozen more likely ways an alien race could show that they just wanted to stop at Disneyland.  
  
There was only one conclusion that made any sense. They were going to take over the world, but how? How were they going to do it? Robot armies? Death beams? Maybe it was to be eggs that spawn creatures that hug your face? Mind control rays? She then thought about why would they want to take over the Earth. Food? Slaves? Bored? Colonization? Too many America Online CDs? None of the scenarios she came up with meant that the human race was going to be better for this.  
  
Nabiki sat up, reached for her phone and called a hotel that owed her a favor. She already figured that every hotel in remote locations was being booked as she was dialing the phone. The phone rang then a happy receptionist answered. "Inn of the Antique Doll, how can I help you?"  
  
"Hello, this is Nabiki Tendo. I'd like to book a room for tonight."  
  
"I'm sorry, we're already booked solid. Our earliest opening is..." Some rustling was heard. "August 12th."  
  
Nabiki checked her notes and found a name. "May I speak with Kenji please?"  
  
"The manager?"  
  
Good! He still works there Nabiki thought. "Yes. Tell him that Nabiki TENDO wishes to speak with him." She emphasized her family name for effect.  
  
"Very well, I'll get him for you." The line changed to elevator music boring the middle Tendo the instant it came on. Nabiki looked into her book of dark secrets that contained the dirt on just about everyone she had come into contact with. The book came in handy numerous times and it was going to pay off again.  
  
A male voice came on the line. "Miss Tendo, I'm sorry but we're really booked."  
  
"Is that so? I'll make this real easy on you. I'll take any room you can find or even a storage room if you can produce a roll away bed. Otherwise that little doll of yours will get very angry."  
  
"Oh. You're THAT Nabiki Tendo?"  
  
Miss Tendo exposed her teeth as her well-earned reputation opened yet another door for her. "I expect my room tonight. I'll be there in the mid afternoon."  
  
"I'll make the arrangements but I must say that it will be a very small room."  
  
"It will be fine. Make sure that the room is ready when I arrive. You don't want to anger the doll now would you?" She hung up the phone, grabbed a gym bag and filled it with essentials.  
========================================  
Kasumi slid away from the growing crowd of people collected in the Tendo living room. She climbed up the stairs to her bedroom and opened her closet to find her old scrapbook that she had hidden there for many years.  
  
She smiled as she turned the pages; memories of years gone by were contained within the treasure she held. Pictures of her mother were the most dominant item found besides small scraps of paper with old amusement park tickets, school play programs and a good citizenship award given to Akane during her Kindergarten year. Kasumi froze on a page in the middle of the book. It was the obituary for her mother.  
  
"Kimiko Tendo, age 32, mother of three." The paper read as Kasumi choked back a tear. Visions of her mother during her treatments for breast cancer flashed in her mind reawakening long forgotten painful memories. Her mother assured her that everything was going to be all right and she was going to get better. She had told Kasumi that she was too young to die.  
  
Kasumi regained her composure to turn the page again. Taped to a thick cardboard page was a lock of her mother's hair. Kimiko had cut it off and gave it to Kasumi the day before she died so a piece of her would always be with her. Kasumi felt the softness that the hair still possessed and dreamed if it was possible to bring her mother back from the grave. All around her was proof of magic through Ranma's curse, Happosai's spells and Cologne's Amazon artifacts. Kasumi snapped the book shut and slid it back into the closet.  
  
The eldest Tendo daughter brushed off her dress and went downstairs to greet the new guests she heard ringing the entryway buzzer. She had a family to feed and care for and a potential war to diffuse.  
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The phone rang at the Tendo home while Kasumi went to greet their new guests. "Could you please answer that for me?"  
  
Akane picked up the phone. "Tendo residence. Oh, uh..." She glanced at Kasumi to see if she was listening. "What can I do for you Doctor? Yes. She's here." Akane with a look of surprise waved at Nodoka. "It's for you."  
  
Nodoka pointed at herself. "For me? Who would be calling me here?"  
  
Akane handed the phone to Mrs. Saotome. "It's Dr. Tofu. He says it's urgent."  
  
Nodoka nodded and took the phone. "This is Mrs. Saotome." She listen to Dr. Tofu on the other side for a moment then went pale. "I see." She cupped the receiver to look around for Ranko. "Ranko? Akane? I need you over here for a minute."  
  
She listened intently to the phone for a little longer. "Yes. I can do that." She fingered her katana while she spoke. "Are you sure? Isn't there any other way? Oh, I see. Very well, give me the address and I'll be right over." She scribbled an address on the notepad by the phone. "I have everything I need, just get everything ready for me when I arrive." Nodoka put the phone down holding her eyes closed.  
  
Ranko stood next to her mother. "What's wrong?"  
  
"Everything Ranko." She burst into tears and held her favorite Tendo. "Everything."  
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"Nihao Ran... Ugh..." A giant paw covered Shampoo's mouth as she entered the courtyard of the Tendo home.  
  
A sign appeared behind the black and white fuzz ball. "Ranma's mother is here." He flipped the sign. "Call Ranma Ranko now if you know what's good for him."  
  
Cologne held back a chuckle. "Now, now, if you just have him marry Shampoo, we'll just be on our way to China and you won't have to worry about your wife now would you?"  
  
"Growlf." The Panda flipped the sign again. "He's marrying Akane!"  
  
Cologne shoved her wrinkled face towards the Panda giving him the evil eye. "Shall I tell your wife your dirty little secret hmm?"  
  
Mr. Panda curled up into a ball and assumed the dreaded Saotome Special Position of total surrender.  
  
The Amazon matriarch held back a chuckle. "Typical male." She bounced alongside Shampoo while they walked up the steps to the front door.  
  
Shampoo produced her bonbori and was about to smash the wall to enter when Cologne tapped them out of her hands with her cane. "Shampoo! We must show a little more restraint."  
  
"Shampoo understand." She turned to the door to kick it down.  
  
"SHAMPOO!"  
  
Kasumi opened the door. "Welcome, are you here to see Ranko?"  
  
Shampoo blinked at the odd name for her husband. "Is Ranko mother here? Stupid panda say we call Airen Ranko."  
  
"I'm afraid that they had just left. They were in a big hurry."  
  
Cologne turned to look at the giant spacecraft. "How long before they return?"  
  
"I don't know. They didn't tell me where they went or why."  
  
The elder scanned the area for ki to make sure she wasn't being lied to. She found no trace of her son-in-law or Akane. "Very well, tell him that I wish to speak with him. It is of the utmost urgency."  
  
The eldest Tendo daughter smiled like she usually did. "I'll tell him when I see him. Are you sure you can't stay for some tea?"  
  
"I'm sure. Shampoo, let's go."  
  
Shampoo gave a sad puppy dog look. "Shampoo was all excited to see Airen again." She trudged off after her great grandmother.  
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Nodoka wanted to be anywhere but here. She checked her white kimono for wrinkles and felt the hilt of her hooked katana. She took a long cotton band of cloth and tied it around her forehead leaving the knot's cords dangling from the back of her head. She walked up the pig-tailed girl who was kneeling before a small table with a tanto on it. The matriarch shed a tear of sadness for what she was about to do, but honor demanded that she carry out her duties as an assistant for the seppuku ritual.  
  
The kneeling girl painted the last passage of her last words on the neat piece of rice paper. Instead of writing a traditional haiku, the girl wrote a more detailed letter of her life. She took her name stamp and imprinted her signature on the bottom to mark the note as genuine. Nodoka read the paper slowly learning the confessions contained. Three times Nodoka paused to weep as the truth was finally told and years of dark secrets were laid out for anyone to read.  
  
The crime was unforgivable in Nodoka's eyes. There was no other way that honor could be restored to the family. The girl took the tanto and with a quick stroke cut off her hair to expose the back of her neck. She dropped her locks then bowed one final time before sitting in the position for the cutting. She held out her tanto before her stomach, holding it there, awaiting the signal to begin.  
  
Nodoka looked to the sky for some sign of divine intervention. Anything that could undo the past was what the Saotome elder begged the gods to give. A minute passed. Nodoka took her position and unsheathed her katana holding it blade high above her head out of eyesight of the smaller girl. She had practiced this swing for years on watermelons but had never dreamed in her life that she would actually have to use this skill on a living human being. A human being whose life was now forfeit.  
  
The elder took a deep breath. "Are you ready to restore honor to your family and your ancestors?"  
  
The forlorn girl nodded. "Yes."  
  
Tears flowed down Nodoka's face. "Begin."  
  
The girl wiggled her fingers to tighten her grip on the tanto. She hesitated a moment as she reflected on the events that brought her here. "Forgive me my children. It was the only way." Mariko plunged the knife into herself. She quickly cut across her belly gasping at the pain.  
  
Nodoka grimaced at the suffering of her childhood friend. She swung the Murakami family blade down neatly severing off Mariko's head. Her body fell forward onto the floor trailing blood in a growing pool. Mrs. Saotome wanted to throw up at the smell and sight of death that filled the small room. She held her strength to lift the blade up and clean off the metal with a piece of rice paper. She took a step back as Dr. Tofu came forward to assure her that it was over.  
  
Nodoka turned away from the carnage she helped create. "I'll be fine doctor." She put the blade back into the sheath and tossed it to the side. The blade was now tainted with death. The whole house was tainted with death.  
  
Dr. Tofu escorted the Mrs. Saotome out of the small home. "There was nothing you could have done."  
  
"She..." Nodoka sat at the porch a crying wreck. "How could she do that to her children?"  
  
"Well, they didn't suffer. The poison killed them all in their sleep. Sadly, I'm getting reports of suicides like this all over the city." Dr. Tofu looked into the open doorway of a home that once had a family of five. He regretted getting the call from Mrs. Murakami about what was to be found inside. Shortly after the spaceship arrived, Mr. Murakami confessed to his wife that he had a mistress and he was taking her out of the city instead of his family. Mariko Murakami in great distress killed her own children and then begged for the only person she trusted to assist her in joining her ancestors.  
  
Once Dr. Tofu arrived, he had found three dead children in their beds and Mariko ready to perform the seppuku ceremony. The doctor tried in vain to revive the children but it was too late. He had little choice in what to do. She begged him to help her leave this world so he called the only person he knew that might help him restore his former patient's honor. Now, four people were dead joining the hundreds of others all over Japan who have opted to leaving this plane of existence instead of participating in what could be a new age of mankind.  
  
Nodoka sat forlorn on the porch in front of the home. She held the Saotome blade loosely in her grasp. She was disgusted with the thought of the seppuku ritual and cursed herself for giving in to Genma's demands all those years ago. She wept at the thought that she may not ever see her son again. From a short distance, a gentle voice was heard. "Auntie?"  
  
Nodoka looked up to see a concerned Akane kneeling before her with both Ukyou and Ranko staring at the house with empty eyes. Akane held out her hand to lift her Aunt up. "Let's go home. The police will take care of this now."  
  
"I know." Nodoka took Akane's hand and gently stood up. She turned to look at the home of the dead in misery.  
  
Akane slowly shook her head at the total waste of human life. "Why?"  
  
Ranko finally found a little courage to speak up. "It was honor."  
  
Ukyou blurted out in anguish. "Honor? What sort of honor was this?"  
  
Nodoka wished she could travel back in time to undo her horrible mistake. "Sometimes, honor demands things that maybe..." She held her katana. "Oh Ranma, my son..." She started walking away from the home back toward the home of the Tendos, making a sobbing sound from time to time.  
  
Akane and Ukyou exchanged worried glances at each other and at a sad Ranko as they followed Mrs. Saotome home.  
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Nabiki ran to the front door stopping there to say her goodbyes. "Doesn't anyone want to come with me?"  
  
"Sweet-o! I see you're ready to go for some hot lovin'!" Happosai jumped out to glomp Nabiki who held out a pair of Ranma's boxer shorts in the path of his flight. The old freak stopped in mid-air, turned to stone and crumpled to dust. It would only distract the thing from an evil dimension for only a minute.  
  
Nabiki put the boxer shorts of Happosai repulsion back in her gym bag for later use. In other words, it was underwear worn by a male. "I want people to come with me who deserve to live."  
  
Kasumi stepped over Happosai's remains to hug her sister. "Have a safe trip."  
  
Nabiki held her older sister firmly. "Sis, come with me. It's not safe here."  
  
"I have to take care of father. He and Mr. Saotome are planning something for Ranma and Akane when they get home and I need to be here."  
  
"Oh please, they're not going to try to get the married again are they?"  
  
"Hmm, I don't know if that's what they're planning but it wouldn't surprised me at all."  
  
Nabiki held her face in her hand holding back laughter at the absurdity of her father. "The world's in crisis and all he can think about is getting my little sister married to Ranma. Oh that's just great." She looked at Kasumi's eyes and knew that her sister wasn't leaving. She reached into her gym bag and rummaged around a bit. She found a cell phone and handed it to her sister. "Take this."  
  
"Why thank you." She looked at the simple cell phone and then her sister. "But we already have a phone."  
  
"All the land lines are jammed right now since everybody is calling everybody else. Now, my cell phone is on the same system as that spare one so I can call you without any problem." She silently added. "For now, I hope the line stays open."  
  
Kasumi slid the phone into a pocket in her apron. "I don't think I'll be needing it. You'll see."  
  
Nabiki sealed up her gym bag and slung it over her shoulder. "You know sis, I hope you're right." Nabiki turned and walked out the door. "For all of our sakes, I hope you're right."  
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Author's Notes: Please review my story. It makes me feel oh so happy, why I'm so happy I could just sing the doom song now! DOOM DOOM DOOM DOOM DOOMY DOOMY DOOM DO DO DO DOOM DOOMY DOOMY DOOM The End.  
  
Bill Heineman  
March 14th, 2003  
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burger@contrabandent.com  
  
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